This Post Over At PressThink got me to wondering about how "we" could work as "National Explainers." Who is "we"? Librarians? Bloggers? Both.

This American Life's great mortgage crisis explainer, The Giant Pool of Money, suggests that "information" and "explanation" ought to be reversed in our order of thought. Especially as we contemplate new news systems.
1. The Giant Pool of Money: Greatest Explainer Ever Heard
2. Explanation leads to information, not the other way around
3. A case of demand without supply?
4. Start with clueless journalists!

"While the 2 million-plus article content nowhere near reaches the size and scope of behemoths such as Elsevier’s Scirus or Google Scholar, the Q-Sensei search engine (http://literature.lalisio.com/oai.html) has a metadata orientation that offers some interesting search capabilities."
and "At present, the Lalisio social network of scientists seems to be the most active side of the operation (www.lalisio.com)."

Science 2.0 Gains Another Search Engine: Q-Sensei From Lalisio
"While the 2 million-plus article content nowhere near reaches the size and scope of behemoths such as Elsevier’s Scirus or Google Scholar, the Q-Sensei search engine (http://literature.lalisio.com/oai.html) has a metadata orientation that offers some interesting search capabilities."
and "At present, the Lalisio social network of scientists seems to be the most active side of the operation (www.lalisio.com)."
Read the full article in Information Today at:
<a href="http://newsbreaks.infotoday

Recently two librarians had their accounts torched by Twitter due to coming up in an anti-spam sweep. Their accounts were considered to have been false positives and it took time for access to be restored. Two librarians in particular, Connie Crosby and Patricia Anderson, were affected.

Part of this "Libraries fight to protect patrons' privacy article has a "MULTIMEDIA FEATURE":
"Click the headings below to learn more about how libaries [SIC] have evolved to meet the changing needs of the communities they serve." It's a neat little report, good PR for libraries/ians

This survey is being undertaken on behalf of the Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Learner Experience for all the UK funding agencies. The survey’s specific remit is to report on the changing use of Web 2.0 technologies for teaching, learning, support and administration purposes in higher education. This survey is being undertaken in five countries to help inform an international comparison. The survey has 4 pages and should take about 20 minutes if you have use of Web 2.0 examples to share.

We are undertaking an international study of the use of Web 2.0 technologies in teaching, learning, support and administration. As part of this study we are collecting evidence, in the form of case studies, of the use of Web 2.0 in higher education in the United Kingdom, Australia, The United States of America, South Africa and the Netherlands.

If you have been using Web 2.0 in your practice we would be very grateful if you would complete the survey, which can be found at

Michael Porter: Dear facebook and Google, I love libraries more. Problem is, when it comes to the future of libraries, and modern/connected civilization’s access to electronic (and physical) community and information access this is blatantly missing from the too dominant tools in electronic search (arguably, Google) and electronic community building (arguably, facebook). And what is missing is starting to feel more dramatic and chasm-like with each passing month.

<a href="http://eloquation.com/2008/06/24/the-librarian-is-dead/">The Librarian is Dead...Long Live the Librarian</a> "What libraries need to do now is make it easier for librarians to share their work on the wider web and not just hide them behind a library login. Instead of publishing bookmarks with “cool reading lists for this month” or putting big signs on their shelves indicating good reads, libraries should instead feature librarian online resource lists as their primary offering."

BART has teamed up with the Contra Costa County Public Library system to set up a novel automated book-lending system that will launch Thursday at the Pittsburg/Bay Point station.

A vending-like machine located at the station will hold some 400 books that can be checked out for free by anyone with a valid Contra Costa County library card. A patron will insert the card, get access to the available titles and check out up to three books. A robotic arm will retrieve the books.